Many people are prone to "remembering" events that never occurred if they keep remembering these imaginary events, said new research by the University of Warwick in England.

In a study about false memories, Dr. Kimberley Wade in the Department of Psychology demonstrates that if persons are told about a completely fictitious event from their lives, and repeatedly imagine that event occurring, almost half of will accept it did occur.

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Over 400 participants in her "memory implantation" studies had fictitious autobiographical events suggested to them. It was later found that around 50% of the participants believed they had experienced those events to some degree.

Participants in these studies came to remember a range of false events, such as taking a childhood hot air balloon ride; playing a prank on a teacher, or creating havoc at a family wedding.

Some 30% of participants appeared to "remember" the event; accepted the suggested event; elaborated on how the event occurred, and even described images of what the event was like. Another 23% showed signs they accepted the suggested event to some degree and believed it really happened.

Dr. Wade and colleagues conclude it can be very difficult to determine when a person is recollecting actual past events, as opposed to false memories, even in a controlled research environment, and more so in real life situations.

These findings have significance in many areas. It raises questions around the authenticity of memories used in forensic investigations, court rooms and therapy treatments.

"We know that many factors affect the creation of false beliefs and memories -- such as asking a person to repeatedly imagine a fake event or to view photos to jog their memory," said Dr. Wade.

"But we don't fully understand how all these factors interact. Large-scale studies like our mega-analysis move us a little bit closer.

"The finding that a large portion of people are prone to developing false beliefs is important. We know from other research that distorted beliefs can influence people's behaviors, intentions and attitudes."

Scientists have been using variations of this procedure for 20 years to study how people can come to remember wholly false experiences.

Moreover, the collective memories of a large group of people or society could be incorrect due to misinformation in the news, for example, and having a striking effect on people's perceptions and behavior.

Tagsfalse memories, Dr. Kimberley Wade, University of Warwick, memory implantation studies